Bench plate



Au mmfl V 1,504,420 v E. l.-. BlNKLE-IY BENCH PLATE Filed Jun@ 16. 1923 2 Sheats-She1;i 1 I 4E 45 3222 lfeya IKEM Aug. 32. 19% 1,5043% E. L. BINKLEY BENCHPLATE Filed June 16, 1923 2 Shea ta-Sheet 2 Patented Aug, 12, 1924..

UNETEF) .t'iTATES EDXVARD L. BINKLEY, QMAHA, NEBRASKA.

BENCH PLATE.

Application filed June 16, 1923. Serial No. 645,812.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD L. BINKLEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Omaha, in the county of Douglas and tate of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bench Plates, of which the following is a specification. I

My invention relates to special benchplates or work-holding devices for use in facilitating the assembling and dis-assembling of mechanism which cannot be conveniently held by a vice or other common holding device for use on a bench or the like. It is the object of my invention to provide a bench-plate especially adapted for use in dis-assembling and assembling the parts of the rear axle, differential gear and drive-shaft of motor vehicles, and whereby said mechanism may be securely held for performing the necessary operations thereon, after being'merely placed in position upon the bench-plate, and without the use of clamping or movable fastening means.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a plan view of a bench-plate embodying my invention, Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, showing certain work in place therein, Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line 44 of Fig. 1, showing the work heldin another position, and Fig. 5 is a plan view of the device in use for holding a driveshaft assembly.

In the illustrated embodiment of my invention the bench-plate has a substantially rectangular flat body-portion 6 provided with suitable openings for screws 7 which may be employed to secure the plate upon the horizontal top A of a work-bench. Near the front end of the plate there is a large circular opening 8, and a slot 9 extends in from the front edge of the plate to said opening 8. Arranged concentrically with the opening 8 there is an annular upstanding flange 10 which is interrupted or discontinued at the slot 9. At the inner side of the flange 10, and extending in radially therefrom, are a plurality of lugs 11 of which the sides and upper faces extend convergently toward a point at the center of the opening 8 and slightly below the top of the plate-body 6. Said lugs 11 terminate on a circular line intermediate the flange 10 and the opening 8, In the upper side of the plate-body 6 immediately adjoining the opening 8 there are a plurality of recesses or counterbores 12 which are uniformly spaced about the center.

On the rear portion of the body-plate 6 are two: pairs of upstanding lugs or posts 13 and 14:, the latter being spaced apartmore than the former, and the posts of each pair. being symmetrical to a center-line extending between them transversely of the plate-body 6. Said posts 13 and 1 1, the annular flange 10, and the lugs 11 are all preferably formed integrally with the plate 6, and may be of cast metal without finish or machine-work thereon.

In the use of the device the same is permanently secured to the bench A, with the open end of the slot 9 adjoining the front edge of the bench, as shown, and the top of the bench is cut through to provide openings therein conforming with the slot 9 and the circular opening 8 of the plate.

For use when disconnecting the parts of the rear axle and differential gearing of a motor vehicle, the differential casing 13, with its attached ring-gear C- and axle-shafts D, is engaged with the bench-plate as shown in Fig. 8, the shafts D extending vertically, and the lower one of said shafts being passedthrough the slot 9 when placing the structure upon the bench-plate, whereby it is unnecessary to lift the parts more than enough to bring the casing B above the annular flange 10, within which it is lowered after the parts are centered with the flange. The inside diameter of the flange 10 is such that the ring-gear may pass down with- 7 in the same, and. when the toothed face of the gear is uppermost, as represented in Fig.

3, the heads of the screws E which secure the gear to the casing B may be seated witl1- in the recesses 12 of the bench-plate. While the parts are seated in this position the nuts H may be removed from the bolts F which hold together the two halves of the gearcasing B, the work being at a convenient height and position, the workman having the free use of both hands, and the parts being so held that the workman has merely to apply a wrench to the nuts to loosen or tighten the same. After the removal of the nuts H, the upper half of the gear-casing may be removed, and then the differential gears and pinions, together with the shafts D of which the ends are secured to said gears. The ring-gear C and that portion ofthe casing B to which it is attached, may then be turned overso that the toothed face of the gear is downward as represented in Fig. i. In this position the lugs 11 extend between some of the teeth of the gear;

whereby the same is securely held and pre-' vented from turning within the seat formed within the annular flange 10, and the heads 1 of the gear attaching' screws E are conveniently accessible for the removal of said screws to disconnectthe ring-gear and casing B. Should it bedes'ired to remove the ringgear from the-casing B Without dis connecting the two'ha'lves of the latter, the entire structure would at first be seated in the bench-plate in the general manner indicated in'Fig. 3, but with the toothed face of the gear downward, or in the same rela- 7 in use for holding'the drive-shaft assembly of a motor vehicle. The drive-shaft, which is. in'closed by the'hou'sing-tube K, has one end thereof the drive-pinion L which is held in place by a nut M screwed on the end of the shaft; At the opposite end the drive-shaft has connected therewith a universal joint which is inclosed by the jointheusing N, so that only the squared end B of the male'knuckle of the joint protrudes from said housing. Inorder to remove the drive-shaftfrom the tube K it is necessary to first unscrew the nut- M and then remove the pinion L, after which the shaft can be withdrawn through the housing N. Ordi narilyit is quite diflicult for a workman to remove the nut M because the shaft must be prevented from turning during the operation. This difliculty is entirely overcome by the use of the bench-plate in the manner shown in said Fig. 5. The squared end B of the universal joint knuckle is placed between the posts 13, while the housing fits between the posts 14, the radius-rod flange T of the housing resting against the inner faces of the latter pair of posts and preventing longitudinal movement of the housing. By the engagement of the member R with the posts 13 the drive-shaft is prevented from turning during the unscrewing of the nut M, or the screwing of the same onto the shaft during the assembling opera tion, and the entire mechanism is thus held in a most convenient manner for carrying out the operation, by merely laying the same upon the bench-plate and bench in the way shown and described.

Now, having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a device of the class described, a plate having an annular upstanding flange, a series of tapering ribs extending radially inward from said flange, there being a large opening through the plate concentric with said flange and a slot from said opening to one edge of the plate, and a series of recesses formed in the face of the plate adjacent to said opening, for the purpose set forth.

2. A bench-plate for the purpose set forth comprising a flatbody-plate, pairs of vertical posts arranged symmetrically to a transverse line near the rear end of said body-plate, there being a large circular opening through the plate near the front end thereof and a slot extending into said opening from said front end, an annular flange extending up from the plate eoncentrically with said opening, and annular series of projections and recesses around the opening within said annular flange.

EDWARD L. BTNKLEY. 

